Enh.... You can debate this point of grammar for hours. "Clinically dead" is what they call it when your heart stops. The fact that your brain cells are still alive and (if blood gets oxygenated and flowing to the brain very, very soon) you could get back up and dance a merry jig doesn't change the clinical definition.

I was more amazed by how much advertising crap there was on that article. A lightbox-effect "Like us on Facebook!" thing that I had to dismiss, combined with an auto-play video ad, combined with a floating "buy Intel UltaBooks!" thing that covered the lower half of the browser.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Get AdBlock. Sometimes I use a different browser to test things for work.

Quick Fixer:he fact that your brain cells are still alive and (if blood gets oxygenated and flowing to the brain very, very soon) you could get back up and dance a merry jig doesn't change the clinical definition.

CPR doesn't work like that - most people who get it and have a ROSC, like 99.95% of them - will not "get up", let alone dance a jig. In fact, they'll most usually be in a coma and require continuing support as a result of reperfusion syndrome and the shock to the brain from loss of blood flow (O2 and glucose). In fact, this is the reason we put them on ice now, and cool them down to 33-34 deg. celsius.

This is the reason that they have you immediately resume CPR after defibrillation with an AED now. Even if you did convert them into a perfusing rhythm, the first minute or two of cardiac output is ineffective at perfusing the brain and myocardium usually, and the heart muscle takes time to recover.

Unless you have someone who is johnny on the spot - i.e. they have an implanted cardioverter/defibrillator, or someone has them already on the pads and immediately recognizes and cardioverts a lethal rhythm - they're probably not going to be conscious and screaming at you to stop pushing on their chest.

People don't come back from the dead. Sans vitals is not death, it becomes death if vitals are not restored.She had an emergency medical episode where vitals stopped, were artificially sustained by persons present, and later her vitals returned and her body is performing them itself.

When I took a CPR /AED class, they never said what to do if the person is pregnant. Actually they never told us if we need to do anything different for female patients at all.

One guy afterwards asked if you leave the bra on, or take it off for using the AED, no one knew the answer.

For laypeople, no. You are posing no risk to the fetus if you are using an AED because you can't get much worse than mom dead. Remember that before the child comes out that the mother is providing the majority of the circulatory support for it through the umbilicus. Also, the fetus is in distress long before the mother herself demonstrates distress.

Don't second guess, do CPR and use the AED. There are some things a trained responder might do different, but that's above a layperson level.

Also, the best practice is to cut off all clothing off the chest, bra included. You won't have anything hindering CPR or pad placement in that case.

hardinparamedic:strangeluck: Would the AED have caused any damage to the baby?

When I took a CPR /AED class, they never said what to do if the person is pregnant. Actually they never told us if we need to do anything different for female patients at all.

One guy afterwards asked if you leave the bra on, or take it off for using the AED, no one knew the answer.

For laypeople, no. You are posing no risk to the fetus if you are using an AED because you can't get much worse than mom dead. Remember that before the child comes out that the mother is providing the majority of the circulatory support for it through the umbilicus. Also, the fetus is in distress long before the mother herself demonstrates distress.

Don't second guess, do CPR and use the AED. There are some things a trained responder might do different, but that's above a layperson level.

Also, the best practice is to cut off all clothing off the chest, bra included. You won't have anything hindering CPR or pad placement in that case.